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Tag: market-data

  • Pay-as-you-go 3G iPhone due soon

    Price announced for pre-paid iPhone but unlimited browsing and wifi included for first year

    UK customers are to be offered a pay-as-you-go 3G iPhone from later this month starting at GBP 349.99 (around US$630) for the 8GB model.

    O2 , which has the exclusive handset franchise for the UK, will also be selling the 16GB model for GBP 399.99 (around US$720).

    The phone will be available from September 16 at O2 and Apple stores, as well as at Carphone Warehouse.

    While the price is high, it doesn’t compare that unfavorably with other high-end smartphone handsets on PAYG terms.

    There are also likely to be customers happy to avoid an 18-month contract at GBP 30 (US$52) a month.

    With PAYG tariffs popular in the UK, the strategy is being seen as a means of O2 broadening its customer base.

    The telecoms company said that the price included unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for the first 12 months after activating the Apple handset.

    The company added that users could continue to receive unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi at the end of the 12 month period for GBP 10 per month (US$18).

    The “unlimited browsing” is subject to O2’s excessive usage policy.

    Existing customers who upgrade to the 3G iPhone may be eligible for a reward, the company has said.

    The phone will get a “favorite place” tariff, meaning that for US$20-28 a month you get 500 minutes of calling to any UK landline or other O2 mobile.

    The operator said handset activation will be done through iTunes, as applies to contact customers, although some settings will need to be changed before users can access the mobile Web.

    Do the sums add up for consumers and will they go for the deal? Would PAYG appeal to other markets? Please send us your comments.

  • US-style Billing Would See 40m Europeans Dump Cell Phones


    Vodafone has voiced its opposition to plans to introduce a Receiving-Party-Pays (RPP) model in Europe, saying the move would force operators to raise retail charges.

    The telecoms company said this would lead to 40 million users getting rid of their cell phones, according to a report in the Financial Times.

    Viviane Reding, the EU telecoms commissioner, wants to reform the industry and has been carrying out a public consultation on its proposals, which closes on Wednesday.

    As well as adopting RPP, the plans also include reducing mobile termination rates from an average €0.08 a minute to between €0.01-0.02 in the next few years.

    According to the report, Vodafone isn’t opposed to the argument for cuts, but wants to see the rate at between €0.05-0.06 per minute by 2012.

    Reding favors the US-style RPP system, in which users pay to receive calls as well as making them, because American consumers pay lower call charges and make greater use of their mobiles. Termination rates are typically set at near zero.

    Vodafone used its submission to the European Commission, seen by the Financial Times, to argue against the adoption of a RPP model.

  • Samsung expands lead over global TV makers

    North America enjoys strong Q2 TV shipments growth in Q2, helping global TV shipments to improve by 11 per cent Y/Y to 47.5M units

    Samsung is the leading global TV brand in revenue terms for the tenth straight quarter, expanding its market share to a record 22.8 per cent.

    This puts it more than 10 share points higher than the second placed manufacturer, Sony.

    The Korean electronics giant, which enjoyed a robust 52 per cent Y/Y revenue growth, also had the top ranking on a unit basis and led both LCD and MD RPTV on a unit and revenue basis.

    The results are contained in DisplaySearch’s latest Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report.

    It showed Sony in second placed on a revenue basis for the fourth straight quarter with very strong Y/Y growth, but declining in share slightly to 12.5 per cent.

    LGE remained in third place with their share nearly unchanged at 11.5 per cent, and they led in global CRT shipments.

    Overall global TV shipments improved by 11 per cent Y/Y to 47.5M units in Q2’08, which was up 3 per cent Q/Q, with better than expected shipment growth in North America.

    LCD TV was once again a hot technology, rising 47 per cent Y/Y to 23.7M units. Plasma TV exhibited even stronger growth, rising 52 per cent Y/Y to 3.4M units, thanks largely to the reintroduction of 32” into the North American market and wider availability of 1080p models.

    North America enjoyed particularly healthy growth in Q2 with total TV shipments surging 28 per cent Y/Y after just 5 per cent Y/Y growth in Q1’08 and negative growth during most of 2007.

    The strong shipments in North America reflect introduction of new, lower-cost, flat panel TV models to the US market by top-tier brands in the latter part of the quarter and a consumer that was very receptive to these lower price points.

    Samsung has now attained nearly one-fifth of the North American LCD TV market with 18.3 per cent of the market for April to June.
    That’s up nearly five percentage points, and puts them way out in front of Sony, which now sits at around 11.7 per cent.

  • Impressive growth for Asian LCD HDTVs sales

    GfK mid-year report shows Asian retail spend on consumer electronics reaches US$ 11.5 Billion

    Demand for consumer electronics in the Asian market is growing strongly despite reports of a gloomy economic outlook, according to research company GfK.

    Its report, Pan Asia Consumer Electronics Data Summary, highlights the trends in the region’s growing consumer electronics sector.

    The results show a retail spend of approximately US$ 11.5 Billion dollars in the first half of 2008, which is an increase of 13 per cent year on year.

    Among the highlights are sales of LCD TVs, with growth in South East Asia more than double year-on-year.
    Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam all lead the way with over 250 per cent retail volume growth for LCD TV in the first half of the year when compared to the first six months retail sales of 2007.

    Malaysia and Thailand register first half LCD TV retail volume growth rates above 115 per cent compared to the January to June period one year ago.

    In other parts of Asia, GfK reported that even advanced markets such as Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan also report first half double-digit growth rates in the retail sector for LCD TV.

    Elsewhere, year on year LCD TV retail volumes grow by more than 50 per cent in Australia and New Zealand, and jump up 79 per cent in the Philippines.

    Steven Kaiser, commercial director CE, GfK Asia, said the data portrayed very positive news on the consumer electronics market across the region for the first half of 2008, with increases in volume and value in many product segments.

    “Our data shows a strong and healthy consumer climate throughout Asia which, thus far, has been less affected by the economic woes in other parts of the world,” he said.

    For televisions, GfK Asia data indicates that, in general, consumers in Asia continue to favor LCD TVs over plasma TVs during the first half of 2008.

    When China is excluded, total Asia LCD TV retail volume growth outpaces plasma TV growth figures.

    In China as well, LCD TVs dominate the television landscape. The data shows LCD TVs capture nearly 80 per cent of China’s television market, even though plasma TV retail volumes grew by 79 per cent in the first half of the 2008 when compared to the same period last year.

  • Turkey and Kenya latest to agree iPhone deals

    Apple’s 3G iPhone rollout continues as more providers strike deals offering the handset

    Telecom providers in Turkey and Kenya are the latest to announce they will be bringing the 3G iPhone to their markets as the international rollout of the handset continues.

    On August 22nd, the current list of 22 nations where the iPhone has already been launched will be extended to give another 20 countries access to Apple’s latest product.

    A further 28 countries will then receive the iPhone by the end of 2008 to reach Apple’s stated goal of introducing the handset to more than 70 nations by year’s end.

    Turkcell, the leading provider of mobile communications services in Turkey, has announced that it will be ones of those bringing the iPhone to its customers later in the year.

    Lale Saral Develioglu, Turkcell’s chief marketing officer, said the smartphone would be offered to its prepaid and post-paid
    customers. “We’re very excited to be working with Apple to bring the iPhone 3G to Turkey,” he said.

    Turkcell recently started offering RIM’s latest high-end smartphone, the BlackBerry Bold 9000.

    Meanwhile, Telkom Kenya will start selling the iPhone in Kenya next month after launching its mobile phone service under the Orange brand.

    The company’s chief commercial and marketing officer, Njeri Rionge, said Orange entered into a contract with Apple that gave it the right to sell the iPhone in Kenya.

    Sales will commence once the mobile service rolls out. However, Rionge said Telkom Kenya has yet to decide whether to offer the iPhone 3G, the older version or both.

  • Smartphone sales grow but pace slackens

    Smartphone shipments to EMEA market rise over 28 per cent on year in 2Q08

    Smartphone sales in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) market reached 12.57 million units in the second quarter of 2008, representing a 28.2 per cent on-year growth, according to market research firm Canalys.

    While the results signal the second biggest quarter ever in volume terms for “converged” devices, the growth was the lowest level recorded in the past 18 months.

    Canalys reports that an estimated 58 per cent of devices had integrated Wi-Fi, 13 per cent had stylus or finger-driven touch screens and 38 per cent had integrated GPS.

    However, Pete Cunningham, senior analyst at Canalys, said the drive by smartphone manufacturers to cram more technology onto platforms is leading to shorter battery life and more disgruntled customers.

    Canalys polled 4,000 European phone users and the number-one concern they expressed was battery life.

    “People are wary of draining their battery and not being able to make calls,” he said. “Battery life is not helped by having GPS and Wi-Fi turned on, nor by having a large bright screen for navigation or web browsing.

    “But there is clear demand for those features and applications, and advances in battery technology would enable quite substantial changes in usage patterns with all the service revenue benefits that would bring.”

    The Canalys EMEA report shows that Nokia remains the smartphone market leader – with a 71.2 per cent share of the segment – but this is down from 79.2 per cent of a year earlier.

    The Finnish giant saw its shipments of smartphones to the EMEA market rise 14.6 per cent on year to 8.95 million units in the second quarter.

    Other vendors in the top five posted much higher than average year-on-year growth, with second-placed RIM closing the market share gap by several points, and HTC, Motorola and Samsung more than doubling their shipments.

    Both HTC and RIM have moving steadily toward the one million shipments per quarter mark in EMEA and enjoy similar market shares.

    However, Apple could spoil this progress in Q3 following its launch of the 3G iPhone in many countries in the region.

    High Tech Computer made notable gains in the EMEA smartphone market, with an impressive rise of 118.7 per cent on year to 880,000 units in the second quarter, giving it a 7 per cent market share.

  • Nokia leads China smartphone sales boom

    Sales of smartphones in China grew 32 per cent on year to 15 million units in the first half of 2008, according to data released from China-based CCID Consulting.

    The analysts said Symbian-based models accounted for over 70 per cent of smartphones sold in the China during the January-June period, followed by Linux-based smartphones with a 15 per cent share and Windows Mobile-based models with a 10 per cent share.

    Nokia saw its shipments of Symbian-based smartphones in China surge over 40 per cent on year to more than 10 million units in the first six months, according the CCID, and the company alone took up a 68.5 per cent share in the smartphone segment.

    Motorola, which focuses on Linux smartphones, was ranked the second largest smartphone vendor in China in the first half with a 15-16 per cent market share, CCID added.

    Dopod International and Amoi Electronics, the two major vendors of Windows Mobile-based smartphones, each took a less than 5 per cent share.

  • Blackberry dominates Apple – for now

    RIM’s Blackberry commands 46 per cent of a US smartphone market that shows strong growth, according to a report by Synergy Research Group.

    The US smartphone market grew 67.3 per cent in the first half of 2008 with RIM’s Blackberry the firm leader with nearly half of all sales.

    However, even with Q2 shipments dropping in anticipation of the new 3G iPhone, Apple retained the second place spot for the first half of the year with Motorola a close third.

    Aaron Vance, senior analyst, Synergy Research Group, said Apple’s performance since entering the smartphone market suggested RIM’s margin of lead may soon be under pressure.

    Apple’s iPhone continues to break records, shipping over a million units in 3 consecutive quarters.

    “Despite the rock star status of the Apple iPhone, the Blackberry dominates the US market with a market share of 46 per cent (for the first half of 2008) versus Apple’s 15 per cent,” he said.

    “But with iPhone’s continued strong success, which only took Apple a year to achieve a number two ranking, it may be sooner than later that Apple is challenging the Blackberry, a notion that would have seemed impossible to many a year or two ago.”

    Q2 2008 US Smartphone Vendor Shipment Growth
    Manufacturer Q-Q Y-Y
    Apple -64.2% 125.6%
    RIM 8.1% 92.1%
    Sony Ericsson 9.4% 32.9%
    Samsung -1.1% 31.3%
    LG 10.5% 29.4%
    Motorola -28.6% -18.2%
    Nokia 43.6% -24.5%

    The Synergy Q2 2008 Mobile Handset Market Share report said the strong first half performance was good news for operators having a greater opportunity to increase revenues per subscriber in a market that is a leader in consumer voice usage.

    Motorola, currently the number one US Mobile Handset vendor with 25 per cent share, is showing signs of difficulty in the fast growing US smartphone business.

    In Q2 2008, Motorola was the only vendor in the Synergy study posting double-digit drops for both sequential and annual growth.

    In the first half of 2008, the US smartphone market represented 12.2 per cent of total mobile handsets shipped.
    This compares to fewer than 10 per cent in the first half of 2007.

  • Sky now boasts 500,000 HD subscribers

    Satellite operator posts final results with revenue up and subscribers approaching 9 million

    Sky+ HD was taken by 33,000 new customers in the UK over the last three months, pushing the premium high-definition PVR to a total customer base of nearly 500,000.

    Nearly 9m people now subscribe to Sky after the company added more customers than expected over the last three months.
    Publishing results for its full financial year, Sky said it had 8.98m subscribers in total with net customer additions over the last three months coming in ahead of analyst expectations at 92,000.

    Revenue for the full year stood at £4.95m, up 9 per cent on the year before, receiving a boost from an 11 per cent uptick in retail subscription revenue to £3.77m.

    Its adjusted operating profit was £752m, down 2 per cent from the year before and attributed to continuing investment in its broadband operations.

    Jeremy Darroch, Sky CEO, said growth was still strong despite a more difficult consumer environment.
    “More customers are choosing Sky for a broader range of products and are staying with us for longer,” he said.

    The HD figure reflects take-up prior to Sky’s reduction in the Sky+ HD price from £249 to £150 effective from July 1.
    Sky noted that quarterly annualised churn has been brought down to 9.8 per cent, its lowest level since 2005.

    Average revenue per customer reached a new high of £427 on the back of continued strong take-up of its premium upsell products such as Sky+ and Sky+ HD.

    Revenue had also been improved with its push into bundle selling, with 11 per cent of its customer base now taking its “triple play” package of TV, broadband and fixed-line telephony.

  • HDTV to grow to 255m by 2013


    The number of households worldwide viewing HDTV is set to rise from 45 million today to 255 million in 2013, according to a study by IMS Research.

    It estimates that 45 million households worldwide received HDTV service via Direct to Home (DTH), cable, IPTV and Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) at the end of 2007, with approximately the same number of HDTV sets shipping during the year.

    But the report forecasts that those watching HDTV worldwide will soar to 255 million TV households by the end of 2013, including video households viewing only pre-recorded non-broadcast programs.

    IMS also expects the Blu-ray Disc market to experience strong growth during the next five years, particularly as Blu-ray Disc drives in new PCs become more common, reaching a forecast US$46 billion in revenues in 2013.

    Shane Walker, research analyst and author of the study, said DTH continues to be the leading platform for HDTV service uptake due to its rapid transition from analog to digital households and increased HD content availability.

    He said HD DTH households are forecast to grow on average at 27.5 per cent annually, reaching 97 million households at the end of 2013.

    The most significant service uptake is expected prior to 2010, after which time the HDTV household growth rate is expected to fall below 30 per cent annually.

    “Approximately 62 per cent of the worldwide cable households are located in the Asia Pacific region,” he said.
    “Because of this, the slow conversion from analog to digital cable TV service in the Asia Pacific region is significantly skewing the worldwide forecast for HD cable households.”

    More details on the IMS Research study, The Worldwide Market for High-Definition TV Equipment & Services, are available at www.imsresearch.com